Future of food: the tech tool that precisely measures vitamins in fruit and veg

Measuring the number of vitamins in fruit and vegetables in real-time in the field will soon be a reality thanks to a cheap easy-to-use biosensor being developed by scientists in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Smart Regions went to meet the scientists in charge of the project. 

Climate change is forcing us to think much harder about how and where our food is grown. In the Netherlands, a European project called ‘EMR Food Screening’ aims to support producers when it comes to making that transition.

The project’s flagship device is a biosensor. While not yet fully commercialised it can quantify the number of vitamins contained in cucumbers and other fruit and vegetables in real-time in the field.

Such information is vital for farmers and food producers, as it enables them to adjust variables, like the amount of humidity for plants, to improve the nutritional quality of their crops.

"Normally, if you want to know how many vitamins are in the vegetable or in fruit, it takes at least days to have this measurement back because it goes to the lab, and then it has to be sent back. And now, you measure it with a sensor. It's getting you the right information within, let's say, within a minute," says John van Helden, Director & Owner of Yookr. 

The biosensor detects food vitamins through colour coding. Scientists at Maastricht University have been developing the chemical - or receptor - part of the biosensor. This can determine the precise vitamin content of a piece of fruit.

The cost of the project was 1.9 million euros, with half of that financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Policy. The EMR programme includes universities, researchers and companies from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In addition to food producers,